


Better Late Than Never

by TuxedoBird



Category: RWBY
Genre: BELATED Bumbleby week 2019, F/F, No beta we die like mne, Slice of Life, but the bees are the hightlight, cause I never finish ANYTHING on time, cute and fluffy, expect most of the crew, prepare for:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 14:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21282956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TuxedoBird/pseuds/TuxedoBird
Summary: A belated Bumbleby Week 2019 collection buzzing into the fold. Just in time for the new volume to start, better late than never I always say.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 10
Kudos: 60





	1. Atlas Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* and all chapters are chronological with each other too with the exception of the ones labled as AU. Please enjoy!

Yang scanned the room over the rim of her champagne flute, drinking in the atmosphere more than her actual beverage. She spotted Ruby sitting in a corner closest to the serving table, all dolled up and chatting enthusiastically to a group of men about  _ something. _ Probably weapon mechanics, she mused. Across the ballroom floor her uncle Qrow remained surprisingly sober despite having a full glass of alcohol in his hands as he flashed his roguish charm towards any pretty face lacking arm candy, and Weiss.. Weiss was across the room standing within arms reach of her  _ disgusting _ father.

The two made eye contact and Weiss nodded. A silent signal that she'd be alright. That Yang didn’t need to intervene like she had threatened to before the ball had even started.

The moment the group had landed they had found themselves being swept up in Atlas's political bullshit. General Ironwood of course  _ insisted _ that he had the border covered and safe even  _ after _ a small (albeit still deadly) grimm attack that seemed to have followed in the wake of their arrival. Yet something still didn't quite sit right with the group. Even Maria and Qrow agreed that something felt off. It was like despite the heavy military presence, despite the fresh grimm attack, despite them even  _ being _ there, the high class citizens of Atlas either didn't know or didn't care what was going on in the rest of the world.

Weiss guessed that it was the media, or at the very least, someone or some _ one's _ on the Atlas council. Specifically her father and his closest supporters. Qrow was inclined to agree.

So here they were, at some event getting ready for a stealth mission to steal some snobby Atlas Elite's scroll so that the group could go sifting through files in hopes to uncover something to clue them in as to  _ why _ .

The plan was simple enough: Team RWBY and Qrow would be the distraction, Oscar would provide the needed sleight of hand, JNR was waiting in the wings so that they could riffle through the office once the scroll was obtained, and Maria made sure everything went according to plan from her perch on a balcony that overlooked the whole event.

_ "Alright everyone, look sharp." _ Maria's voice buzzed through the com piece hidden in Yang's ear. It was the same system they had used for Jaune's plane heist.  _ "Our high roller just walked in." _

Yang passed her unfinished drink to a server and smoothed down the front of her dark dress suit. It wasn't anything particularly fancy, but at least the sleeves allowed her to mostly hide her arm from the judgemental gaze of the Atlesian high class. Being more likely to punch someone rather than distract with gossip she didn't particularly care for, Yang's part was kept simple.

Somewhere across the hall Yang could hear her uncle's gravely voice call out to the band. That was part of step one. ‘The Set Up’, the group had called it.

With a fairly attractive young woman hanging on his arm, Qrow came into Yang's field of view as he took up the middle of the floor looking sharp in his white tux suite, no tie and the top three buttons popped open to look like the ever charming rogue.

As Qrow began expertly sweeping his chosen around the dance floor (which surprised Yang), others at the event made room so that they could watch. Some even joined with their own partners and soon it became a proper dance rather than a social gathering of the high class.

_ “I’m in position.” _ Came Oscar’s voice through the tiny earpiece. As discreetly as she could, Yang scanned the room again and spotted Oscar in his own secondhand tux following a few feet behind their intended target, a man of average appearances but was supposedly Jacque Scnhee's personal booky. Now all that was needed was step two..

_“Alright Belladonna,”_ Maria said, an obvious smirk in her voice, _“you’re up.”_

Yang couldn’t stop herself from looking towards the event’s entrance. This was the trickiest part of the plan that could easily turn sour because Atlesians and faunus mix just as well as water and rubidium, but the plan was too good of an opportunity for the best distraction of all in order to have Oscar be successful. But that wasn’t the reason why Yang suddenly felt anxious.

The moment Blake came into the room, it seemed like all eyes gravitated towards her. A majority of which were not friendly, and a light echo of hushed murmuring rose just below the music. But the band kept playing, and that’s what mattered. And Yang couldn’t stop staring.

Blake looked  _ gorgeous. _ Like..  _ Better than the Beacon Dance Gorgeous _ and- Yang snapped her jaw closed when she realized she had her mouth hanging open like an idiot.

During the grimm attack upon their arrival, a flying Beringel had grabbed Blake by her hair and before it could punch or do any bodily harm with such a hold on her, the huntress made the snap decision of slicing through her own locks with a broken Gambol Shroud in order to free herself. Weiss, ever the bestie, later dragged Blake to a hair salon sometime after the dust had settled (and after they were all exhausted from yelling at Ironwood) to get it properly fixed.

The short bob was cute, but paired with a sleeveless black dress with crossing lace patterns going up her abdomen and ending around her throat, and a  _ scandalously long _ slit up one side that revealed high heels that were laced up to her calf every time she stepped… nobody else in this room existed. To Yang, there was only Blake. And she was not prepared.

_ “-ang, YANG! Pay attention girl! You need to get into position!” _ Maria’s yelling through the earpiece snapped Yang’s attention back to the present, blinking owlishly as she smoothed her hands down the front of her suit once more. Why was she so nervous all of sudden? It’s not like she hasn’t seen Blake all dressed up before...

Pulling herself together just enough to put one foot in front of the other without tripping, Yang met Blake halfway across the dance floor. She had a part to play, after all. She even surprised herself when she managed to hold her hand out without it shaking as she asked, “May I have this dance?”

Blake’s smirk was small, sly, and full of knowing as she effortlessly slid her fingers into her partner’s open palm. “It seems like my first dance will always be yours, Yang.”

The statement got Yang to laugh, mostly so that she could mask whatever emotion it was that was suddenly making her heart pound heavily in her chest.

Leading Blake further onto the dance floor, the other patrons either gave them a wide berth or left the floor entirely to sneer with racist hate towards Blake and her exposed faunus ears. None of them dared say anything aloud though, and even if they did, they spoke in hushed words that didn’t matter to either huntress.

Yang wrapped an arm around Blake’s waist, taking note of how her partner’s dress was also backless and hoped that her palm wasn’t sweating against Blake's skin as she held her other hand aloft, gently swaying her partner back and forth to the rhythm of the band instead of the sweeping steps that her uncle was still performing.

“You look stunning.” She whispered, knowing that Blake would be able to hear. A notion that was confirmed by the slight tilt of Blake’s faunus ears and the slightest dusting of a blush peeking through her makeup as she tried to look away from Yang’s gaze.

“Th-thanks.” Blake was blushing in earnest now, and Yang wanted so badly to ask if  _ cat got your tongue? _ because her partner was usually the better linguist of the two. Gold star to her though. She refrained from doing so.

Somewhere within the room there was a brief moment of commotion that settled down just as quickly as it had started, but Yang couldn’t physically bring herself to look at anywhere that wasn’t Blake to check on what it was.

Oscar’s out of breath voice rang in her ear a second later as he whisper-shouted,  _ “I got it! Guys I got the scroll!” _

_ “Great! Bring it here before Nora decides to perform a break in.” _ was Jaune’s quick and exasperated reply.

“It seems Oscar’s part of the plan went smoothly.”

It took a moment for Yang to realize that Blake was speaking to her. Clearing her head with a shake, she chuckled. A low rumble within her chest that made Blake smile and,  _ Gods _ , did she want her partner to smile more often.

“Great. So.. what do we do now?”

Blake hummed in thought, the hand she kept on Yang’s shoulder squeezing gently as she came to a conclusion a moment later. “ _ We _ get to wait and see what the others find. So we might as well.. Enjoy the rest of the night?”

Yang smiled, tugging Blake tighter against her.  
  
“Now  _ that _ sounds like a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is Rubidium you ask? GOOGLE THE SCIENCE I SAY! Or better yet, find it on YouTube. FOR SCIENCE! (also this is my humble twist on the Bee-Ball Idea + how Blake got her new dew. Hope y’all enjoyed!) Also if you spotted the Firefly reference, have a cookie and a high-five


	2. Meeting the Parents

Securing the lamp in Atlas had been a glorified  _ shit show. _ So now, the long and short of it was that the team had to find a place to hide away _ both  _ the Staff of Creation  _ and _ the Lamp of Knowledge. Fortunately, Ozpin decided to emerge from his self wallowing pit of despair within Oscar’s mind to tell them of a forgotten temple that rested in the sands of Menagerie before disappearing again. Much to the groups fury, of course.

But Menagerie meant “home” for Blake, and as the group landed in Kuo Kuana, she was more than a little worried on how the populace would react to such a large group of humans. It was a safe place for faunus, after all, and Blake didn’t want her people to feel like her friends were there as tourists on vacation coming to gawk at all the ‘animals’.

But she needn’t worry too much. Unlike how Atlas had treated Blake, the people of Kuo Kuana treated her friends cordially though there were still a few who were sceptical at first, but then they’d spot Blake amongst the group and most would relax. Some even greeted her to welcome both her and her friends home. Aanndd just like Sun had, her friends were absolutely baffled to learn that her parents where the governing chiefs of the island.

“You’re just like Weiss!” Ruby had happily exclaimed as they approached her parents newly remodeled home. Weiss of course took confused offense to that. (“What’s  _ that _ supposed to mean?”)

Another worry Blake had was how her parents would like her friends, and they her parents. She hadn’t  _ exactly _ made proper introductions back at Haven when she had the chance. But Kali was through the roof with joy as she opened the massive double doors to see team RWBY in the flesh and practically squeezed the life out of each of them in the tightest hug she could manage.

There was a brief moment where everyone collectively held their breath when Kali grabbed Yang’s robotic hand in both of her own and stared at the metal plating. The older woman’s expression shifted several times, too quickly to decipher even, before she looked up to Yang with a watery smile and whispered, “Thank you.” before she hugged the blond one more time. Yang hugged the shorter woman back without a word, and everyone began to breathe again.

\----

“ _ If _ there was such a temple,” Ghira rumbled disbelievingly as he pointed at a large map of the island that was laid out across his desk, “My guess is that it would be  _ here. _ ” He jabbed a finger in the direct center of the desert that threatened to swallow the island.

Qrow looked over the map’s area that Ghira had pointed out, rubbing at his stubble beard as he nodded slowly. “Knowing  _ my _ luck, it’ll be buried deep out there as well. We’ll have to bring a shovel. Or two.” He tried to joke, though weakly.

Blake had been standing within the doorway, silently observing her dad and Qrow as they talked theories and possible strategies over Ozpin’s brief and cryptic message about the supposid temple, doing their best with their collective knowledge of the area and the ways they’d go about traveling there.

A hand on the small of her back made her startle with a slight jerk, but she calmed quickly when she realized that it was just her mother appearing at her elbow.

Kali smiled up at her daughter. “I’ve got dinner ready if you want to help me serve it.” She winked, leaving Blake where she found her as she retreated back towards the kitchen. With one last glance towards Qrow and her father, Blake turned to trail after her mother. There wasn’t much any of them could do right now anyway. The deserts of Menagerie were dangerous, more dangerous than the sands of Vacuo even, and none of them were particularly eager to head out into the scorching wastelands without a solid plan (and a solid back up plan just in case).

Loud cheering echoed down the hall the closer Blake approached the dining room. The sound of course pulled a smile out of her, her faunus ears tilting towards a sound that she easily picked out as Yang’s voice. “C’mon  _ Valkyrie _ , that all you got?”

Choosing to stop by the dining room door long enough to peer inside, hopefully without the others noticing her, Blake got to see both Yang and Nora in an arm wrestling match. Ruby of course was doing most of the shouting, Jaune and Oscar matching the young leaders enthusiasm.

Ren was quite, but it was clear he was on Nora’s side while Weiss had her arms folded about her chest with a frown. “ _ Really? _ Didn’t you two already do this back at Haven?” Despite scoffing with an appropriate amount of eye rolling, Blake could tell that Weiss was holding back a grin.

“Yes but,” Nora grunted out as she put more effort into trying to tilt Yang’s robotic arm, “She CHEATED last time..”

Yang laughed through gritted teeth. “Says you.”

Then Yang made the mistake of looking over Nora’s shoulder to make eye contact with Blake.

For reasons unknown Blake felt like being a tiny bit cruel then, and winked at Yang before continuing her journey towards the kitchen.

The resounding  _ THUD _ of a fist being slammed into wood along with both Ruby and Yang’s wailing of “Noooooooooo!”, and Nora’s war cry of victory, told Blake that Yang had lost. The faunus couldn’t hold back a sly smirk as she entered the kitchen.

“Well, that was a bit cheeky of you.” Her mother chuckled as Blake joined her side at the kitchen counter.

Blake fought back a blush as she feigned innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She didn’t know why she bothered playing coy. Joking or not, Kali was like a mind reader when it came to her daughter.

Kali patted Blake’s arm knowingly before handing her a tray loaded with crab cakes and a jug of herbal tea.

“You know,” Kali began, loading up a second tray with rice bowls, udon, dumplings, and sushi. “I enjoyed the stories Sun told me. About your friends, but..” she paused briefly to pick up the tray to head back towards the dining room. “But I enjoy having them over so much more. I don’t think I’ve seen you smile this much in ages.” she finished, speaking over her shoulder with a wide and happy smile.

_ “Mom.” _ Blake blushed, surprised in her small victory of not spilling any of the tea on her tray.

Back in the dining room, Nora was still gloating her victory over Yang by flexing obnoxiously throughout the room. Only Ruby’s loud excitement of “Yay food!” got the red head to plunk back down in her seat and everyone, even Yang, to cheer up at the delicious looking spread.

As Blake dished out portions to her friends, Kali kept a few servings on her tray and left to go deliver them to Ghira, Qrow, and Maria who were still in her father’s study. Blake chose to sit next to Yang and gently nudged her partner with her shoulder. A silent, but playful gesture that sought forgiveness in being the cause to Yang’s lost match.

Yang leaned into her personal space and snatched up a crab cake off of Blake's plate with her chopsticks, pointedly stuffing it into her mouth while maintaining eye contact to let Blake know that that was her penance. Blake allowed it.

“Hey Blake.” Nora spoke through a mouth full of dumplings and sushi. When Blake looked at her with her faunus ears perked, Nora thankfully swallowed before she continued. “Call me crazy buuuut… am I the only one that thinks you look like your mom?”

The room paused in their food consumption to collectively stare at Blake, and suddenly it felt much too warm in the room as she blushed involuntarily from the sudden attention she was receiving. “W-what?”

“Pfft, well,  _ yea _ . Mother. Daughter. It makes sense to me why they would look alike.” Was Ruby’s ‘sage’ wisdom delivered through a mouth full of half chewed food and wild hand gestures that made Weiss lean a little further away from her partner to avoid being hit with a chopstick.

Ren tilted his head as he observed Blake, “The similarities are indeed there.”

“Guys, stop. Please.” Though she was smiling, Blake wished she was like Velvet who could just hide behind her rabbit ears if she were so inclined to do so. All Blake had for options was either ducking underneath the table, hiding behind Yang, or leaving the room. Under the table was utterly childish and out of the question, Yang would probably laugh if she buried her head into her shoulder (though Blake was almost positive that her partner wouldn’t mind), and removing herself from the room felt too much like running away so  _ that _ wasn’t going to happen either.

In the end, Blake chose to hide behind her own hands to cover up the shade of red that she had no doubt become. And to hopefully get her friends to stop staring at her.

From the doorway Blake heard her mother chuckle. “It’s the hair I think; kitten.”

Blake didn’t think that her ears could flatten so quickly before. But they did. Lowering her hands so sharply that Blake almost smacked the tabletop with them as she hissed an embarrassed warning of  _ “Mooom.” _ towards her mother. But the damage was already done. Now all of her friends would know the pet name that her mother would call her while growing up.

Naturally, Kali ignored her daughter’s warning and joined the group around the table to eat. The large party of friends shuffling just enough to make room for Kali to fit between Weiss and Nora comfortably. A convenient spot which was directly across from her daughter.

Out of the corner of her eye, Blake could see the absolute  _ grin _ that was spreading across Yang’s face. But she wasn’t fast enough to stop her partner.

“Aww, she called you-”   
  
“Yangdon’t!”

_ “-Kitten!” _

Yang was beside herself with glee, so Blake stole a dumpling off of her partner’s plate and ate it in front of her with a glare.

“Aww Blake c’mon, you gotta be  _ ‘kitten’’ _ me, that’s not fair.” Yang laughed.  _ Nobody _ was going to come to either side’s aide, content to let the black and yellow pair deal with their own ridiculous play argument. Kali, on the other hand, was positively beaming as she watched their exchange.

A few stolen dumplings was obviously not enough to chastise Yang, Blake decided, so she instead lifted Yang’s entire dinner plate and smoothly left the room. There was a difference between  _ running away _ and simply not putting up with Yang’s silly puns.

As she rounded the corner into the hallway, Blake paused along the wall so that she could listen to Yang’s half hearted protests along with her mothers laughter mixing with the others.

“Oh, don’t worry Yang." She heard her mother say with a delighted laugh. "That just means she  _ likes _ you."

Blake couldn’t argue the facts as she popped another dumpling into her mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, my spinning take on the prompt. Also, Blake’s bicut is awesome but am I the only one that thinks that she sort of looks like her mom now? It’s not a bad thing, it’s just one more reason why I think I love it so much *shrugs*


	3. Proposal/Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the one in which I shamelessly steal the marriage fight scene from Pirates of the Caribbean and try and make something RWBY out of it

With an impromptu caravan of Jeep's and dune buggies all loaded up with supplies and excavation tools, along with a few extra brave souls and armaments, the group headed out in search of Ozpin's mysterious desert temple. But despite all of the preparations the group had made, despite all of the research, the supply gathering, and morale boosting.. none of them were truly prepared for traveling through Menagerie's desert wasteland.

For starters, they knew that'd it be hotter than hell during the day, so they had to travel mostly at night or early dusk or dawn. Not a big deal, they could manage with the slower pace. They had also known that there'd be grimm because,  _ honestly, _ there wasn't a place on Remnant that  _ wasn't _ infested with the damn things. They even took into consideration the amount of baddies that they  _ might _ attract by having not one, but  _ two _ relics in their possession should the ancient artifacts lure an even larger number than what the lamp had on the train to Argus.

But what they  _ weren't _ prepared for was the unique, yet bizarre types of grimm that they encountered. Nor were they prepared to face  _ so many of them _ . These species of grimm were new and none of them, not even Maria or any of the locals that tagged along with them, had even seen them before. It was like the sands of Menagerie kept them hidden from the rest of the world until just now, three days into their journey with no way to turn back. And nowhere to hide.

Amidst punching a grim that looked almost like two creeps connected at the tail (and with far more teeth), Yang took the briefest of pauses to scan the battlefield, searching for one person in particular.

Blake wasn't far, only a newly refurbished Gambol Shroud ribbon length away as she danced expertly between two spikey looking lizard grimm, each easily the size of one of the jeeps.

"Hey Blake!" Yang called out as she dodged both sets of snapping teeth from her grimm.

Kicking one of the spiny lizards in the chin to force its mouth shut before it could spew a molten fireball (they learned it could do  _ that _ when it almost destroyed a jeep), Blake then used her momentum to jump out of the way, leaving a shadow clone behind just in time for the second lizard to take a snap at it. With it’s maw in the sand, it allowed Blake an opening as she opened fire into one of the creatures eyes, managing to kill it after emptying a clip.

Jumping away from the remaining spike lizard so that she could reload, Blake landed next to her partner. “Yes Yang?”

“Will you marry me?” Yang grinned as she fired a projectile shot at her target. She missed, and the double creep grimm  _ thing _ burrowed into the sand like a bizarre worm and disappeared out of sight, causing Yang to curse silently as she took a more defensive stance.

_ “What?” _ Blake asked rhetorically. She could tell that the remaining spike lizard was getting ready to spit another fireball by how its gills began glowing and so she prepared herself to dodge. “I don’t think now’s the best time, Yang.”

Despite the obvious danger that they and their group were in, Yang's answering grin was wide and undeterred.

“But now may be our  _ only _ time _ -whoa!” _ The sand beneath Yang’s feet began to bubble and spew, so she immediately leapt out of the way of the emerging double creep just as the spike lizard Blake was facing belched out its fireball. Rolling out of the way of the attack, Blake and Yang found themselves trading foes.

Yang charged the spike lizard with an uppercut to the jaw, causing the grimm to rear back from the force of the blow. Before the creature could plant itself back on all four feet, she then proceeded to jackhammer punch into the lizards soft underbelly until there was nothing left of it’s middle.

As the spike lizard evaporated in a cloud of black mist, Yang turned to find Blake finishing off the double creep with an impressive show of swordsmanship. Yang winked at her as the two locked eyes. “I’ve made my choice,  _ Belladonna. _ What’s yours?”

Blake sighed, shoulders dropping with the exhale of breath. “You’re serious.” it wasn’t a question.

“Yup.” Yang said, popping the ‘p’ as she rested her fists on her hip.

Blake didn’t have much time to answer as she immediately lifted Gambol Shroud in its gun form to shoot at something that reared its head behind Yang. Her partner didn’t even flinch as the bullets whizzed passed her head. In fact, Yang’s grin only grew  _ wider. _

Yea. They had each other’s backs.

“MARIA!” Blake shouted, whirling away from Yang to face the caravan line of desert vehicles. Though the group managed to convince Ghira to stay in Kuo Kuana, the old huntress wasn’t as easy to order around. Armed with one of the jeep’s mini guns, Maria Calavera was  _ positively  _ having the time of her life.

Shooting down a winged grimm that looked like a decrepit vulture with two heads, Maria’s loud “WHAT?” could still be heard over the other sounds of battle.

“MARRY US!” Blake bellowed back before suddenly dodging out of the way of a Dromedon’s poisonous spit. Out of all the grimm they’ve seen in the last few days, the demonic camel grimm was the only one any of them recognized from Professor Port’s class on desert species.

“I’M A LITTLE BUSY AT THE MOMENT!” Maria cackled out as she shot down another three vultures from the sky.

Yang sidestepped the Dromedon’s bone plated hooves as it reared at her and gave it a calculated punch to the hump when it came back down in a spray of sand. Almost immediately the hump swelled like a balloon and Yang had to jump back before it exploded in a large poisonous plume of fumes and grimm bits.

“NOW MARIA!” Yang shouted, once again finding herself taking a defensive stance by Blake’s side as the two huntresses looked for another foe to take down together.

“Oh for the love of.. FINE! You’re lucky I’m still a licensed wedding officiant. HAHA! It’s the only license I have  _ left! _ ”

As Maria cackled over her own jab, both Blake and Yang pulled a bumblebee maneuver to quickly dispatch another spike lizard. Then they found themselves surrounded by more of the double creep weirdos as four of them sprung out of the sand. Yang was beginning to  _ really  _ hate those things as it felt like a rigged game of Whack-A-Grimm as they kept burrowing to avoid taking hits and popped back up in more dangerous places.

Over the sound of shotgun blasts from Ember Celica and the more subtle pistol sounding Gambol Shroud, Maria shouted at them, “Go on then! Exchange your vows!”

The two shared a split second look of confusion. This was already one hell of a weird (and sudden) wedding, so who were they to judge if their chosen officiary wanted to gloss over the traditional flowery opening speech.

"Blake Belladonna," Yang began as she grabbed a double creep by one of it's slavering mouths and fired a blast directly down its throat. "Do you take me to be your wife?" Another prescribed pill of buckshot down its gullet and the double creep flopped comically as it belched smoke out it's other mouth before beginning to disintegrate like all grimm do in death.

Yang felt Blake press their backs together as she fired a few rounds at one trying to burrow. "I do." she replied, tracking the double creeps trajectory with an estimated guess and shot it dead when it emerged to her right.

With two down and two go, Blake twisted to grab ahold of Yang's arm and tugged until the two swapped positions to change their fighting angles.

"Yang Xiao Long," Blake parried a snapping mouth, “do you take me to be your wife?” a few shots to the body of the beast, “In sickness and in health, with health being the most preferable?” The grimm laid dead before her.

Yang dodged out of the way as the last double creep sprung from the ground. “You bet I do!” A punch straight on the snout and the grimm folded in on itself like an accordion before flying backwards in a dead heap.

Unloading round after round of the minigun into something that looked like a giant deathstalker but with far more spikes and spines to be such, Maria continued to shoot the terrifying thing until it stopped moving. Only then did she joyfully wave at the two with far more enthusiasm than their current situation called for.

“As the most senior huntress here, I now pronounce you-” She began, only to interrupt herself by firing off another few more rounds at a flock of incoming vultures. “You may k-” another burst of gunfire. “YOU MAY-” She tried a little more insistently only to have the jeep she was on get hit by a molten fireball from a sneaky spike lizard. The jeep was a loss, and if it wasn’t for Weiss swooping in on a summoned Lancer, Maria would have been crushed as the vehicle flipped over from the force of the attack.

The former heiress made a point of flying over both Blake and Yang’s head, screaming at them with as much annoyance as humanly possible, “Just KISS already!”

Not one to be told twice, Yang grabbed Blake around the waist and pulled her in for a kiss that was far from perfect. It was rushed, rough, yet passionate with an unspoken promise to get the next one right when the setting was a little more romantic and less… battleground.

When they pulled apart, Blake smirked at Yang. “So,” she said, reloading her weapon far too casually for the chaos that was around them. “Thoughts on where to have the honeymoon?”

“Ya know..” Yang grinned. Without warning she thrusted a fist out just above and to the side of Blake’s shoulder to shoot the head off of a charging Dromedon before it could get into spitting distance (Blake didn’t even flinch). “I was thinking someplace with a beach, but after this place?.. I don’t  _ ever _ want to see sand again for at  _ least _ ten years. Five, minimum.”

Blake’s smile grew delightfully amused.

Yea. They had each other’s backs. Now, and forever.


	4. AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is done in a different POV than the others because it's an AU of my own work, One Venti Of the Day Please! which is all written in the same perspective. 100% Don't have to read to know what's going on, but I'd love you forever if you did :)

* _ Blake's POV _

The bowling alley was loud like it usually was. A cacophony of crashing pins, club like music, and the voices of numerous patrons shouting above it all. Summer may have been coming to a close, but the new college semester didn't start for another few weeks.

When Yang was done lacing up her last shoe, I curled up on the bench and leaned into her side. My chin coming to rest on my girlfriends shoulder as the two of us watched Velvet try and walk Coco through a few bowling warm up techniques.

"Wanna take bets on how long it takes until Coco stares at Velvet's butt?" Yang whispered loud enough for only me to hear.

I tried to keep my smile unassuming in case the other two looked our way.

"Wouldn't be much of a bet," I replied, watching as Velvet took the bowling ball out of Coco's hand and gave a live demonstration of the technique she just talked her through. "She's hardly been looking anywhere else since they got here."

" _ Wwhhaatt? _ No way." Yang leaned her head back just enough to be able to stare at me. "How can you tell?"

I simply quirked a crooked little smirk, leaning in to affectionately nuzzle my nose along Yang's jawline. "You forget Faunus have good eyesight. Her shades are not as dark as she thinks they are."

Yang grinned against my skin as she kissed my temple, snaking an arm around my shoulders as she did so. "I'll have to remember that." Then, cupping her free hand (the robotic one) to her mouth, Yang semi shouted at the other couple. "Touch her butt already so we can play!"

I had to cover my mouth to muffle my laugh. At Yang's shout, Coco unashamedly gave Velvet a slap on the rump who, in mid swing of her second lane toss, gave a mighty squeak as her bowling ball flew from her grasp so that it went haphazardly into the gutter.

Blushing so furiously that even her rabbit ears turned a brilliant shade of red, Velvet twisted around to begin smacking her girlfriend on the arm. Coco of course was in hysterics over the whole situation, laughing away with each hit she took while also trying to speak soothing half hearted apologies.

Yang leaned her head against mine, an infectious grin plastered on her gorgeous face as our temples camp together with a gentle bump. "Now we know how to win our bowling matches against V. Think we can get Coco to distract her for the rest of the night?"

I doubted it. But it was worth a try.

Our double dates were never dull. And in the end…

Velvet still won.


	5. Beacon Days

Their first night back in civilization and Blake was already buried in a book, curled comfortably against the headboard of her old bed as she absorbed the words on the page. So when the door to the room opened and closed with nothing more than a quiet click, Blake almost dismissed the sound as a figment of her imagination. That is, until Yang flopped face first onto the bed beside her.

"Weiss hates her new look." Yang chuckled, the sound muffled until she turned her head within the sheets to flash a tired smile at her wife.

Setting her book aside on the nightstand, Blake adjusted herself until she was laying next to Yang, her upper half supported by a crooked elbow as she affectionately reached across what little space was between them to move aside a few strands of blonde from Yang’s eyes.

Without her prosthetic on, Blake could see as clear as day the massive ugly bruise that covered the stump of Yang's arm, stretching all the way up to hide beneath her shirt sleeve only to peak out again around the neckline. A painful reminder that their journey to find the hidden temple was brutal and not just because of the desert heat.

The Grimm were endless and the closer they got to the temple, the bigger their foe had become. Some time after day two of their journey was when the Grimm began attacking them in earnest, leaving everyone's aura levels consistently low if not fully depleted. Moments of recuperation had to be while their caravan was on the move, usually hauling ass through the desert to either make up for lost time or simply to run from another wave to avoid fighting altogether. Injuries like Yang's, who needed to throw punches to do damage despite the grueling kickback of her prosthetic, became unavoidable. So the group did their best to work together to avoid anything more serious.

And by some stroke of luck no one died (the only exception being a few of their vehicles, of course). Aside from colorful bruises, cuts and gashes, a few broken bones here and there,  _ all manner _ of burns, and dehydration, the worst injury anyone suffered was the loss of several fingers to an acid spitting creature that wasn't a Grimm.

Blake had been one of the lucky ones. Only coming out of the desert with a few abrasions here and there, a spattering of minor bruises, slight dehydration, and a blistering sunburn along the back of her neck, shoulders, face.. anywhere her combat outfit didn't cover, to be honest.

Yang tilted her head a little further into Blake's gentle touch until she was able to kiss the inside of Blake's wrist. Her face scrunched up almost immediately afterwards. "Ugh, gross. Babe you taste like aloe."

Blake couldn't help but smile as she chose to blatantly ignore her wife's complaint, instead continuing on with the initial topic. "Weiss didn't  _ have _ to cut her hair though."

While on their way back to Kuo Kuana, the former heiress had had  _ enough _ of the weight of her hair giving her migraines out in the desert. It was simply just too heavy all of a sudden with her perpetually low aura levels and heat exhausted sour mood to handle, so she had her glorious battle braid (dubbed thus by Ruby) lobbed off. Now she was sporting a bobbed cut much shorter than Blake’s, and though the faunus thought her teammate looked  _ good _ with her new hair style, she guessed that the regret was finally kicking in.

Yang shifted atop the bed, smothering a grin into the sheets as she tried to get comfortable for sleep. "Yeah right. If she had complained for one more day about it I’m sure even Ruby would’ve left her behind.”

Blake leaned down to place a returning peck on the top of Yang’s head, smiling into her partners blonde hair. “No she wouldn’t.”

Yang grunted something that sounded like she wasn’t too sure on that. So Blake continued.

“Ruby worked far too hard on her team building exercises back at Beacon to leave any of us behind.” the faunus worried at her lower lip, suddenly anxious over the unspoken  _ ‘unlike me’. _ Ripping that self deprecating thought out of her mind before it could take root any further, Blake forced a smirk as she then added, "Besides, they're practically an old married couple. She’d leave Weiss out there for  _ maybe _ five minutes before running back gushing apologies."

Yang rolled onto her back with such a beautiful laugh that Blake relaxed from her worries. They were over their past mistakes and looking forward to the future, after all. Pressing as much of herself as she dared into her wife's warmth without disturbing either her sunburns or Yang's bruise too much, Blake snuggled into Yang's side.

Still in a fit of mirth, Yang pressed a kiss into Blake's hairline before resting their heads together. "Rubes  _ did _ call her  _ wife _ instead of  _ Weiss _ an awful lot huh?  _ Dang it _ , and here I thought that  _ I _ was the one who got hitched first. Brat beat me to it on  _ 'landing strategy' _ day." She joked.

Blake smiled into the collar of Yang's shirt, tilting her head just enough to affectionately run her nose along her wife's jawline. "Better late than never."

"Yeah." Yang grinned through a yawn. "Better late than never." She placed another kiss atop Blake's head, and just as the faunus's eyes started to close so that she could drift off to sleep, Yang continued as a thought suddenly struck her, sounding devilishly determined, "If Ruby hasn't already like, made a ring out of string or something, I'm beating her to the jewelry store tomorrow." It was both a joke and a promise.

Blake fought back a sleepy laugh, quirking a gentle smile instead. "Pick a good one for me."

Yang laced their fingers together and placed their entwined hands atop her stomach. "I will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how does this relate to Beacon Days you ask? By them reminiscing about Ruby being an awesome pants leader in training, duh.  
Hey, you can show a writer to water but ya can't make them drink! I DO WHAT I WANT K? K! Also Dishwasher1910 did an amazing picture of the whole group sporting a bob cut aaannnddd Weiss's hair y'all… like.. I love it. Go check it out for yourself if you don't believe me.


	6. Beach Day

Ruby came running over, all sunburns and smiles as she practically belly flopped onto the beach towel next to Yang's. "I thought you said you never wanted to see sand again." She laughed as she rolled onto her back.

Yang was stretched out across her own towel under the shade of an umbrella with her back resting against the cooler they had brought along. Making a noise akin to one having nonchalantly changed their mind, Yang shrugged. "And miss this  _ amaz _ ing view? No  _ way _ ."

Even with Yang's eyes hidden behind a thick pair of dark sunglasses, Ruby could tell that her sister wasn't staring at the beautiful West coastlines of Vacuo, but rather at a certain Faunus in a little black bikini playing a pseudo game of volleyball with the others.

Ruby picked up the sunscreen lotion and threw it at her sister with a, " _ Gross _ ." And Yang broke her neutral facade to laugh as the bottle hit her legs.

"Not gross sis,  _ married _ ."

Ruby pointed a finger at her sister, trying her best to hide a smile while sounding serious. "Still gross.  _ And _ you're a lazy bum. We're at  _ the beach _ ! Join us!"

Yang pretended to give it some thought, so Ruby urged again by not so discreetly whispering, "Joooiinn uuusssssss."

They both burst into laughter.

After giving themselves time to settle from their mirth, Yang stood from her beach towel to remove her sunglasses with a flourish. "Fine. But I'm throwing you into the ocean."

"Wha-_no!"_ Despite her protests, and for once being too slow to react, Ruby was laughing as Yang scooped her up to throw her over her shoulder, jogging towards the ocean at a brisk pace to make good on her promise.


	7. Growing Old Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourselves for…. DOMESTIC MIDDLE AGED BEES!

Patch's fall season brought with it many things. Shorter daylight hours, cooler weather, the usual changing of floral colors, and rain. Not a lot of rain, just short spurts of a light drizzle here and there that would last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to make sure everything remained a soggy mess. Today happened to be one of the  _ wet all day _ forecasts. Not that Yang minded.

Heading back towards the house after locking up the greenhouse, Yang took a deep breath and watched it come out as a puff of fog. Grinning a bit at the sight, she bowed her head against the weather and made a mental note to dig out the heavy down blanket from its summer hiding spot. Unless her wife had already retrieved it, Yang was sure Blake would want it tonight if the temperature continued to drop.

Once inside, Yang sighed as she shrugged off her damp jacket to hang it up before plopping down on an old folding chair that she kept near the door to unlace her boots. From the chair, Yang could see all of the living room and into the kitchen since their home was but a small cozy cottage much like the one she grew up in. Aaannnd she could see that her wife was still curled up on the couch, right where she had left her and no doubt still reading.

Smirking to herself, Yang quietly went to check on her.

Blake was sitting with her legs tucked up, one arm braced along the arm of the couch with her head in her palm while her other hand had a loose grip on an open book. And she was fast asleep.

Taking a moment to just bask in the sight of her wife, Yang smiled. Thirty years of marriage and the blonde still loved every bit of Blake. Every scar, every age line, even the cool streak of white that ran through the faunus’s short hair. Yang might be the tiniest bit biased, but she wholeheartedly thought that Blake made middle age look sexy. Or maybe that was because Blake now wore tiny librarian glasses whenever she read that vaguely reminded Yang of Mrs. Goodwitch.  _ Ooor maybe _ .. just maybe, seeing her wife wearing her yellow flannel shirt still tweaked her heartstrings in all the best ways.

Kneeling in front of the sofa, Yang pried the book from Blake’s grip as gently as possible and set it aside. Blake stirred only a little at first. The quietest of mumbles when her book was placed beside her on the couch, a flick of one cat ear when Yang carefully removed her glasses... It was when Yang placed a soft kiss on her forehead that Blake finally woke slowly, taking a deep breath as she blinked her eyes open sluggishly and stretched her legs out.

“Mmm what time is it?” Blake asked groggily.

Yang smiled as she placed another kiss to Blake’s temple. “Nap time, apparently.” She chuckled.

Blake rolled her eyes with a smile and stretched again, replying dryly, “Ha ha very funny.” Blake went to run a hand along Yang’s hair line affectionately but frowned involuntarily when her hand came away damp. “Is it still raining out?” She asked, repeating the motion but this time as an attempt to wipe away the residual rain from Yang’s hair.

“Yup. Give it a week and it’ll turn to snow soon. Just pray I don’t kill the tomatoes or the rhubarb plants again this year.” Yang grinned, kissing the inside of Blake’s palm before standing with a pop sounding in one of her knees that neither of them commented on.

Heading towards the kitchen Yang grabbed a clean dish towel and used it to mostly dry her hair. Normally she’d have taken a hot shower, but right now a hot cup of tea in her hands and curling up on the couch with Blake sounded like an infinitely much better idea. If she could step back in time and tell her twenty year old self that she would one day enjoy tea and the domestic trials and tribulations of running a greenhouse growing fruits and veggies more than she would hunting Grimm, Yang was pretty sure that her younger self would absolutely  _ roll _ with laughter. Maybe it’s the side effects of growing older that made her find enjoyment in the “mundane adulting hobbies”, or maybe it’s the aftereffect of having risked life and limb (both literally and figuratively) saving the world from Salem, but whatever the case, Yang was  _ happy. _ And retired.

Just as the blonde reached up into one of the cupboards to grab some mugs, a pair of arms snaked around her middle to hold her close to the body that now pressed into her back. With a chuckle, Yang leaned back against Blake, placing her hands over hers and lacing their fingers together. “Everything all right there kitten?”

Blake nodded into Yang’s shoulder. The blonde could even feel the smile that was on her wife’s lips.

Yang’s younger self might laugh or roll their eyes at the domestic life she now lived, but Older Yang’s counter argument would be  _ this _ . Not this  _ exact _ moment, but all of the little moments  _ like _ this one. Calm, and unhurried. The weather might be droopy and cold, but Blake’s body pressed against her back was anything but. Yang gave Blake’s fingers a gentle squeeze which her wife returned.

“Nap time?” She asked trying to hold back a grin.

Blake nodded again, this time placing a kiss just behind Yang’s ear. “Nap time.” she confirmed.

Tea could wait, Yang supposed. She believed she knew just where that heavy blanket was tucked away too. She’d definitely have to find it and pull it out now so that the two of them could curl up beneath it.


	8. Bonus VA Appreciation Day (AU DAY)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read this has Voice Actor Appreciation Day, dunno if that is correct or not buuuttt HERE WE GO! A modern/no faunus/comic con au based off/inspired by several real life events

It all started with the insistence of her girlfriend's younger sister. Though Blake adored Ruby, even she was a bit exasperated at just how  _ adamant _ the nineteen year old was about how her and Yang should  _ “totally dress up and go to comic con because I’m at school and can’t go and be sure to get LOTS of photos and autographs of these voice actors from my favorite show that are going to be there this year and- please oh please oh please I’ll love you FOREVER if you do! And-” _ ... Needless to say, both Blake and Yang caved into the younger girls request, but not after some intense negotiating on Yang’s part.

Though the two of them had paid for their own tickets, Ruby agreed to send them money to pay for the meet and greets. She also had sent them an ungodly amount of reference photos for their costumes under the pretense of “Conventions are no fun if you don’t dress up!”. Eventually it got to the point that Yang wanted to see what all the fuss was about and found the series on CrunchyRoll and.. Ok. Blake won’t say that she’s  _ hooked _ , but she may - or may not have - binged all of the available seasons in a single weekend with Yang.

Two of the series characters, coincidentally they were two whose voice actors were the ones that Ruby wanted them to go see, turned out to be the couples favorite. Partially because of the gay undertones that flitted between the two that the screen writing seemed to continually hint at, but mostly because Blake and Yang liked their overall aesthetics and character dynamics. One was a dark and mysterious ninja with cat ears while the other was loud, blonde, and fought with her fists. Yang called dibs on that one as her new waifu.

They had only a month before the event, and so Blake dove right into making her costume with surprising enthusiasm, getting to work on making a long coat and boot covers that made it look like she had thigh highs. She was even fortunate enough to find a pair of cat ears at a thrift store since faux fur was expensive but forewent making the characters weapon given the time constraint. At least neither she nor Yang had to buy a wig since their own hair was close enough, though Blake’s might have been a bit short but Ruby assured her that the character was “totes getting it chopped off next season!”. Like that didn’t sound foreboding at all. Blake really liked that character and didn’t want anything bad to happen to them.

Frustratingly Yang waited until the  _ night of the event _ to start on her costume and yet she somehow managed to slap together an outfit  _ from her closet _ . She even rushed to a hardware store fifteen minutes before closing to buy yellow spray paint, of all things. Despite it all, Yang still looked the part in nothing but cargo pants, white tennis shoes, an orange tank top, and a yellow “gauntlet” that she spent ten minutes slapping together with nothing but duct tape, paint, and prayers.

“Alright, one down, three to go!” Yang said cheerfully as she stretched both arms above her head. Though Blake deeply appreciated the little sneak peek of her girlfriends abs as her top rose up, Blake watched as a tiny flake of yellow spray paint come off of the gauntlet and wondered, not for the first time, if any paint would still remain by the end of the day.

Four of the actors from the show had shown up to the event, and conveniently they were seated down a line from one another so all Blake and Yang had to do was go through their respective lanes consecutively. They had just finished getting pictures taken with Barbara, the voice actor of Yellow Dragon, and up next was Arryn who voiced Blake's favorite character, the mysterious Nightshade.   


Double checking the text Ruby had sent them both, Blake went down the list of what the younger girl wanted. “Ruby says she only wants a picture with Arryn but when we get to Kara she wants..” Blake internally groaned at the younger girls choice of wording. What was it about “waifu’s” anyway? She didn’t quite understand it at all and chose to paraphrase a little as she continued reading the text. “She wants both an autograph and a picture.”

Yang adjusted the strap to the large poster tube she carried across her back. "Wanna get Arryn's signature then?" She jerked her thumb at the tube, which they had stored a large wall poster depicting all of the series main cast and were planning on having the actors sign. At least the ones they could afford anyway.

Blake wanted to scream " _ Yes _ !" but after some financial budgeting in her head, she settled for a more reserved nod. Technically the two of them could afford having all of the actors sign, but that would then leave them on a tight budget for grocery shopping later. Ruby after all had only sent them so much in compensation for this little adventure.

Yang threw her head back in a laugh, care free and easy as she usually is, and very capable of detecting her girlfriend's hidden excitement. "Got it. Arryn's signature it is."

"I don't deserve you." Blake told her girlfriend affectionately as she snaked her arms around Yang's shoulders, leaning in for a kiss… and stopped just short of Yang's lips when she saw it happen. "Oh my g-Yang!  _ Look." _

Blake didn't wait for Yang to respond, she simply turned her confused face (which was still puckered up for a kiss) towards the celebrity booths.

At first it just looked like Arryn was ducking at odd angles and making faces before continuing to chat with the individual at her booth. When the voice actor did it a second time the couple noticed why.  _ She was photobombing _ all of her fellow co-stars photos!

Yang turned to Blake with the biggest hopeful grin on her face. "Babe gimme the camera."

A frantic full body pat down later and the two of them were huddled close to look at the cameras small viewing screen. It wasn't the fanciest of Canon cameras, but it did take better photos than either of their phones, which is why they brought it along. It even has a zoom function for zeroing in on certain parts of photos which is exactly what Yang did when she brought up the picture the couple had just took with Barbara..

Zooming in on the photo jjuusstt about around Yang's elbow was Arryn's face with the happiest open mouth grin ever.

Yang clamped a hand to her mouth as she laughed. "We got a two for one babe!" She said happily.

Blake was laughing along with her girlfriend, a much more reserved sound in comparison but a laugh nonetheless, as she pulled out her phone to text Ruby.

"I think your sister's head is going to explode."

"Yeah it will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I’ve gone to conventions specifically to see a certain actor/actress by request of a sibling  
\- Blake and Yang’s cosplay are 100% based off of an adorable couple that I met at a convention a few years back (who were cosplaying as, you guessed it, Blake and Yang. Duct tape gauntlet and all)  
\- I was witness to/victim of a Wild Zech Photobomb (y'all she's too cute for this world I swear)


End file.
